The Trap (1946 film)
| The Trap | |
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| Directed by | Howard Bretherton |
| Written by | Earl Derr Biggers |
| Starring |
Sidney Toler Victor Sen Yung |
| Music by | Edward J. Kay |
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Running time
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62 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Charlie Chan In the Trap is a 1946 crime film directed by Howard Bretherton. The main premise is two members of a show troupe are murdered, and Charlie Chan is called in to solve the case.
This was Sidney Toler's final film and his final one as the detective Charlie Chan, his 22nd of the series. Stricken with cancer during his last few films, Toler was so physically weak during filming that he could hardly walk or say his lines coherently.
Calamity ensues at the beach villa in Malibu, California, where Cole King's theatre ensemble resides, when one of the showgirls, Adelaide, is challenging Marcia, who is Cole's girl and the star of the show.
Marcia retaliates by threatening to reveal Adelaide's secret marriage to a doctor by the name of George Brandt. She also steals a letter to Adelaide from said Brandt, using one of the other showgirls, Lois, who is hiding the fact that she is under eighteen.
When Marcia vanishes and Lois' dead body is found by one of the other members of the group, San Toy. The cause of death is strangulation, and the technique used is used by the French and the Chinese. Immediately, the French Adelaide and Chinese San Toy are placed under suspicion as possible perpetrators.
Also living under the same roof are the group's press agent Rick Daniels and costume chief Mrs. Thorn. Daniels suggests they make Lois' death look like drowning, but San Toy contacts her friend Jimmy, who is the son of reputed sleuth Charlie Chan, asking for help to solve the murder mystery. Chan starts his investigation, and soon both his assistant, Birmingham, and San Toy are attacked, but without a mortal ending. Another member of the theatre group, Clementine, discovers Marcia dead and strangled on the beach, with a silk cord still around her neck.
Daniels tries to get rid of Marcia's robe, and is seen by Chan, who concludes it was the belt from the robe that was found around Marcia's neck. Daniels claims he is innocent and that someone put the robe in King's room to frame him for the murder. King starts to believe Daniels is the killer tyring to get rid of the evidence.
Chan finds out that doctor Brandt was previously accused of murdering his ex-wife but was cleared from suspicion. However, it destroyed his future career as a physician. He changed his identity, enlisted and went to Europe, where he met Adelaide and they married.
Chan talks to Dr. Brandt, who admits to finding his wife Lois' body, but not to killing her. To catch the real killer Chan decides to set a trap. Everything works as planned, and the killer tries to strangle San Toy that night, but Chan's son Jimmy comes to San's rescue and accidentally destroys foils the trap.
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Wikipedia